The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and obesity in The Gambia was assessed in a 1% population sample of 6048 adults over 15 years of age. 572 (9.5%) subjects were hypertensive according to WHO criteria (a diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of 95 mmHg or above and/or a systolic blood pressure (SBP) of 160 mmHg or above) ; 325 (5.4%) had a DBP of 95 mmHg or above, and 39 (2.3%) a DBP of 105 mmHg or above ; 428 (7.1%) had a SBP of 160 mmHg or above.

By less conservative criteria (a DBP of 90 mmHg or above and/or SBP of 140 mmHg or above), 24.2% of subjects were hypertensive.

The prevalence of hypertension was similar in the major ethnic groups and in urban and rural communities.

Age and obesity were risk factors for hypertension ; female sex was an additional risk factor for diastolic hypertension.

Several communities had a prevalence of diastolic hypertension double the national rate, and significant community clustering of diastolic hypertension (P<0.01) was confirmed by Monte Carlo methods.